The Wellkept Secrets of Minerva McGonagall
by Lissie1019
Summary: In their search for horcruxes, Harry Potter and his friends encounters some peculiar information regarding Voldemort and their former tranfiguration professor. AU
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1, Good afternoon, Mr Potter

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><p>Harry Potter didn't quite knew what to expect from the meeting that would soon take place in Orion Black's old study on the second floor at Grimmauld Place. He had never thought about professor McGonagall as a young girl, the idea itself was absurd, almost more so than to imagine a young Dumbledore. He couldn't for the love of his life imagine the stern transfiguration professor as a Hogwarts student, laughing with friends in the Gryffindor common room. Despite this, he still understood that McGonagall must've been young once too, but it had never occured to him that she was almost exactly the same age as… well, <em>him. <em>It was Hermione, of course, who had studied the old classlists she had found in the Black family library and found out that a Minerva McGonagall was sorted into Gryffindor September 1 1938, the same day as Tom Riddle was sorted into Slytherin.

"It doesn't make sense!" Hermione had said, clearly distressed by some incorrect information. "McGonagall was born in October 1925 while Tom Riddle was born in December 1926, she should be one year above him!", since the transfiguration professor hadn't been at Grimmauld Place at the moment, Hermione had searched through the entire library and by the end of the night come to the rather logical explanation that McGonagall had been sick the entire summer and autumn of 1937 and had therfor been unable to attend school. Harry, on the other hand, hadn't been really interested in why his teacher had been in the wrong year, he was more concerned about the fact that she had attended school with the boy who would later become the most feared wizard of all times. As he sat in an armchair in the old, dark study, Harry wondered if it really was such a good idea to talk to McGonagall. If she had known something important, wouldn't Dumbledore have told Harry that then? Dumbledore and McGonagall were good friends, better than some other members of the staff, and Harry knew there was a reason why McGonagall had been appointed second in command at Hogwarts. The memories of his old mentor suddenly made Harry's eyes tear. He could still think about Dumbledore for minutes sometimes before remembering what had happened that terrible night in the Astronomy Tower. Suddenly, Harry heard a firm knock on the door, he swallowed hard before calling: "come in".

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><p>Just like always, there was an air of pride as Minerva McGonagall entered the room and closed the door behind her. She strode gracefully through the room, reminding Harry of her animagus form.<p>

"Good afternoon, Mr Potter", she said, giving Harry her famous, stern look, and sat down in the other armchair in the room without waiting for an invitation.

"Good afternoon, professor", he said and watched the older woman adjust her glasses and taking off her pointy, black hat that matched the dark robes she was wearing.

"I understood by the letter Miss Granger wrote to me that you had some questions that might help the three of you with your… assignment that Albus left you", McGonagall said, not wasting any time on smalltalk.

"That's correct, professor", Harry said, slightly taken aback by McGongalls direct approach.

"I'm not sure how I could be of any use, Potter, but if I can contribute with any useful information, I will of course do so", Harry nodded, pleased with McGonagall's answer.

"Thank you professor, every detail could be of great use in the long run", Harry said, still slightly unsure on how to approach the subject.

"Well go ahead then, I don't have the entire afternoon", McGonagall said urgingly.

"I.. Well, we, well, Hermione really…" Harry stammered and McGonagall rolled her eyes.

"The point Potter, if you please", she said, her voice dripping with impatience.

"Alright then. Well, Hermione found these classlist from Hogwarts in the library, and she kind of found one with your name on it", Harry started.

"Yes, I did went to Hogwarts once, Potter, even if you might be having difficulties imagining it", McGonagall said sarcastic.

"I don't professor, of course you've gone to Hogwarts. Anyways, on the same classlist we found another name", Harry said, gathering all his Gryffindor courage.

"Yes, I might believe you did. I wasn't the only student in my class"

"Well, the name we found was Tom Riddle", Harry saw how the look on McGonagall's face froze, her expression remained unreadable. Harry didn't knew for how long they just sat there, but to him it felt like eternity. When the spell finally broke, McGonagall regained har usual, composed and stern facial expression.

"I'm afraid I can't help you Potter. I don't know much more about Tom Riddle than any of my other classmates", she said, Harry couldn't help but noticed that her tone was cold.

"There must be something you can…", Harry began but didn't get to finish his sentence.

"I'm afraid not, if you'll excuse me, I have some urgent matters to take care of at Hogwarts. I run a school, nowadays, as you might've noticed. Good afternoon, Mr Potter", with that McGonagall rose from her armchair and walked out of the room before Harry could say anything more.

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><p>"I bet she knows something", Ron said later that night when Harry, Ron and Hermione had gathered in Ron's and Harry's room. Hermione rolled her eyes.<p>

"Don't be stupid Ronald, why would professor McGonagall lie?" Hermione said and shook her head at Ron's comment.

"I hate being the one breaking it for you Hermione, but professors _can lie. _Remember Lockhart, the fake Moody… ever heard of Trelawney?" Ron asked and Hermione gave him a dark look.

"Of course I know that teachers can lie, I just didn't think professor McGonagall was the type…", Hermione began and Ron groaned.

"Come on Hermione! Everyone has secrets, even McGonagall, she's not some kind of saint, you know", Ron said and Hermione turned to Harry.

"What do you think, Harry? You were the one talking to her", Hermione asked and Ron smiled, satisfied with his temporarily win. Harry sighed, he hated when their meetings turned into arguing competitions between his best friends. Both Ron and Hermione was competitive and more stubborn than most people Harry knew, and no one ever surrendered willingly.

"You both have a point", Harry said, taking his usual role as playing Switzerland. "I agree with Ron on the fact that it seems like she knows something. On the other hand it seems very out of character for McGonagall to do something like this", he said diplomatically. Harry yawned as he looked on the clock, 01.13, more than time to go to bed.

"We'll continue tomorrow", Hermione said as if she'd read his mind. "But I think we all can agree on that another meeting with McGonagall is necessary", she continued and Ron nodded. Harry just agreed, happy that his two friends didn't argue about something for once.

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><p><em>Well, this is some kind of attempt on a multi-chaptered fic in english... I've been walking around with this idea for ages, but I didn't know how to write it, and today I just thought "why not write it from someone else's point of view?". Brilliant! It's probably typos everywhere and loads of grammatical errors, feel free to point them out, but please, be nice, there's no use in being rude. Keep in mind that english is not my first language and I tend to mix american english and brittish english, which some people finds annoying.<em>

_And most importantly, what do you think? Is it worth continuing?_

_Thanks for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Hi everyone! _

_Thank you so much for the amazing response to the first chapter. Seriously, every single review makes me ridiculously happy. Please keep reviewing, I appreciate it a lot. _

_The next chapter is slightly longer, and some key elements are introduced. I had som difficulties deciding which characters I would put as main characters. It would be logical to choose Harry, as the story is told mainly from his point of view, but on the other hand, the story isn't so much ABOUT Harry, it's more about McGonagall and Voldemort. Anyways, if you have an opinion on the matter, please let me know._

_It's difficult for me to say when I will be able do update, but it's realistic to expect an update at least once a week. I try to be a couple of chapters ahead all the time, so now in the beginning it might take longer._

_I'm also looking for a beta, I've never had one before, so it's rather new for me, but if this is going to be a long story, it's only fair to the readers that the fic is not overflowing with grammar errors due to my poor english skills. Please send me a PM if you're interested. _

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his world belongs to JK Rowling. I make no money writing this story, it's purely for my own (and hopefully others) enjoyment._

_This AN has suddenly become far longer than I intended… I'm sorry if it was boring_

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><p>When Harry went downstairs to eat breakfast the next morning, he felt like he easily could've slept for another four hours or so. He had lied in his bed, tossing and turning the entire night while Ron had been snoring just a few meters away. Sometime after the first rays of morning sunlight had shone in through the windows, Harry had fallen asleep. Harry yawned as he sat down next to Hermione in the dining room. Mrs Weasley had made an impressive breakfast that could almost rival to those on Hogwarts. Harry took a plate and put on some scrambled eggs, bacon and a slice of toast. He looked at Hermione who was fully concentrated on an article in the <em>Daily Prophet, <em>she hadn't even noticed that Harry had sat down next to her.

"Morning Hermione", he said loudly and Hermione jumped so high in her seat that she spilled some of her pumpkin juice on her jeans.

"Oh, hi Harry", she said and cleaned her trousers with a quick _"scourgify". _

"Reading something interesting?" He asked with a nod towards the paper on the table and Hermione sighed.

"Thomas and Louise Aldridge was found dead last night", she said and looked at the paper. On the page Hermione had been reading there was a picture of a man and a woman who looked like they were around seventy. They were both laughing and waving at the camera. Harry had never seen the people before and couldn't recall their names.

"Ehum, forgive me for sounding terribly uneducated Hermione, but who are these people?" Harry asked and Hermione groaned.

"That's the problem Harry! I don't know either! I've never seen them before, but I'm _sure _I've heard the names Thomas Aldridge and Louise Fawcett somewhere, I just don't know where", Hermione said, clearly frustrated.

"Not sure I can help you there. Doesn't the article says something then? Weren't they famous for something?" Harry asked and Hermione shook her head.

"No, they were two perfectly normal people. He used to work at the Ministry, Department of Magical Transportation, and was an appreciated member of the staff before he retired. She worked part-time as a nurse at St Mungo's while raising their three children. He was a Ravenclaw at Hogwarts, she was a Gryffindor, they met at a _New Years Ball", _Hermione rolled her eyes and snorted at this. "None of them were ever involved in politics and I can't imagine that You-Know-Who would want them on his side, because neither of them was especially accomplished in any specific area of magic", Hermione said. "Where is Ron by the way", Hermione asked bluntly.

"He was going to talk to Ginny about something", Harry said off-minded and Hermione choked her pumpkin juice.

"What did you say he was going to do?" Hermione asked while coughing.

"Talk to Ginny about something. He was a little upset, maybe she has stolen his Chudley Cannons shirt again…", Harry didn't get to finish because Hermione simply groaned before rushing out of the dining room and up the stairs. Harry debated for a few moments whether or not he should follow her, but decided that Hermione probably handled it better on her own, and started reading the article about Thomas and Louise Aldridge. Just like Hermione had said, there was nothing about this couple that was unnatural, they both had a squeaky clean auror register, a fair amount of friends who also seemed perfectly normal, as well as three children whom had all turned out rather well. The eldest son worked as a healer, the younger son owned a shop in Diagon Alley and their only daughter worked as a curse breaker for Gringotts. They were all married with children and had never been involved in Dark Arts. The ambitious journalist had even interviewed one of the Aldridges' old teachers, a mrs Imelda Higgs, in his search of something out of the ordinary. Harry started reading the article where the interview began.

"_Louise Fawcett was a lovely girl, very sweet and she got along wonderfully with her peers", mrs Higgs says, she also only has good things to say about mr Aldridge. "I never taught him, the boy didn't get along very well with runes. But he was very polite, never got into trouble, and he graduated with good marks. He wasn't in the top five of the class though, but that couldn't be expected, not with the competition that year", mrs Higgs laughs and refers to the class of '45, which is famous for having most students with the highest grades since 1502. Mrs Higgs also tells us about one time in the spring of 1943 when Thomas Aldridge decided to take Louise Fawcett on a picnic in Hogsmeade and they were attacked by squirrels, read the entire story on the next page..._

Harry put the paper down and looked at a picture of a newly-wed mr and mrs Aldridge. They stood by a lake surrounded by friends and family and looked very happy. Mr Aldridge whispered something in his wife's ear that made her blush, and three men in mr Aldridge's age who stood behind the couple. They were probably his friends, and wore matching robes, indicating that they were some kind of groomsmen, if wizards had groomsmen at their weddings, of course. Harry studied the three men and couldn't help but notice a striking resemblance between the tallest of them and his own godfather. Sirius Black was still a sore subject for Harry, and the picture of the man who looked so much like him was painful. Harry woke up from his thoughts by his male best friend who sat down on the chair next to him and started filling a plate with food.

"I can't believe them!" Ron said as he took a large bite of toast. "I just can't believe them!" he repeated with his mouth filled with food.

"What is it you can't believe, Ron?" Harry asked.

"It's Ginny! She's dating _Finnegan. SEAMUS FINNEGAN _Harry! Of all morons in the world, why him?" Harry felt his heart drop at Ron's words. Ginny was already dating? It hadn't been more than two months since Dumbledore's funeral and she had already moved on?

"H-how did they meet?" Harry asked, trying to keep his composure. Ron just shrugged.

"Remember that Ginny stayed at aunt Muriel's a couple of weeks before Grimmauld was safe?" Ron asked and Harry nodded. The first weeks of summer the Order had lived in different safe houses while putting up new wards around Grimmauld Place since the old ones had disappeared when Dumbledore died. Harry had stayed two weeks at the Dursley's, as he had promised Dumbledore, before going to the Burrow. The trio had been separated for another three weeks before meeting up at Grimmauld Place. Ron had lived at Shell Cottage, Bill and Fleur's new house while Hermione had stayed with Hestia Jones in the older witch's apartment in Diagon Alley. Ginny, on the other hand, had been forced to suffer for five long weeks at Muriel's house alone with the old witch.

"Anyways", Ron continued. "Seamus cousin or something obviously lives next door, and Seamus were visiting and none of them had anyone else to talk to, and… well, something like that", Ron said moved on to his scrambled eggs.

"Oh, I see", Harry said in an attempt to sound uninterested. "Why did you… scream at her?" Harry asked uncomfortably. He didn't knew if he even _wanted _to know the answer.

"Hey! She didn't tell me! I didn't know until this morning when _Dean _wrote to me", Ron said upset.

"Are you and Dean writing to each other?" Harry asked, slightly surprised. He had never noticed that Ron and Dean had a particularly close relationship. They were house-mates, of course, and in the same year which resulted in them being a bit closer than other Gryffindors, but he didn't knew thought they were _writing _to each other.

"Not really… well, he wrote this morning because he was upset over Seamus and Ginny since he and Ginny you know, hit off last year", Ron said. Harry wondered if Ron didn't remember that his best friend _also _had dated his little sister or if he just chose to ignore it.

"And Dean said that they had, Seamus and Ginny, had, you know…", Ron said, clearly uncomfortable and Harry wished he hadn't asked.

"What, Ron?" Harry asked, also he uncomfortable.

"Well, you know, ehum… _snogged, _in the _bushes", _Harry felt a wave of relief wash over him when Ron uttered the words.

"Mate, you don't think that what you and Lavender did last year also classifies as… snogging?" Harry asked with a smile on his lips.

"It's not the same!" Ron almost yelled, his face had also turned into the colour of a tomato.

"How come?" Harry asked, trying to stay neutral.

"She's Ginny! She hasn't even turned 16 yet!" Ron yelled and some older Order members who sat further down the long table gave him weird looks.

"Look, Ron. I realise you're upset, but Ginny turns 16 in a matter of weeks, she's old enough to make her own decisions", Harry said, surprised at himself for almost defending Ginny's relationship with Seamus. The fact that _he himself _had made out with Ginny when they were dating might've been a reason. For a moment Harry tried to imagine Ron's rage if he would ever find out, but decided that he wouldn't let him find out. Ever.

"You don't understand Harry! She wears these _clothes! _You should see them! Or no, you shouldn't. The skirts are so short and the tops are so low-cut! And she reads these _magazines. _Seriously, one would think that she'd have better things on her mind with a war going on, than the latest robes trends. She was never like this when she dated you, Harry!" Harry pretended not to look affected by the mention of his and Ginny's short-lived relationship.

"People change, Ron", Harry sighed. "Ginny isn't going to be a little girl forever, and there are things you can't protect her from", he said.

"But there's a war! Not everyone can be trusted!" Ron said, obviously changing his tactic. Harry was just going to answer when Hermione tapped him on the shoulder.

"The library. Now. Both of you", she said shortly to Harry and Ron.

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><p><em>That's it… not a lot of action, but a lot of important stuff plot-wise. Feel free to point out major grammatical errors and misspellings, especially if it's a recurring problem. As I said before, I'm looking for a Beta Reader, preferrably one who is fluent in english.<em>

_And I realise that the focus on Ginny's lovelife might seem a bit irrelevant for the storyline. But it has its purpose, trust me, everything will be explained sooner or later. _

_I'm almost done with the next chapter, but there's a lot of editing to do first, so expect a new chapter this weekend or so._

_Reviews are as always more than welcome, it's really nice to hear what you think_

_Thanks for reading!_


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